Regulus ignicapilla
Regulus ignicapilla
This species is native to the westernmost part of the Palearctic (BirdLife International, 2024). In Europe, it is distributed across the Mediterranean basin, France, southern England, and the central region (Keller et al., 2020). In Spain, it is widespread throughout the northern half of the peninsula, in the Eurosiberian region, the Pyrenees, the Central and Iberian Systems, the coastal Catalonian mountains, etc. (Pérez-Granados and Serrano-Davies in SEO/BirdLife, 2022). It is also scattered across the Baetic Systems, Sierra Morena, and the Montes de Toledo. It is present in the Balearic Islands but absent from Ceuta and Melilla.
In Madrid, it is uniformly distributed throughout the mountain range, reaching as far as Monte de El Pardo and the northern parts of the capital in the central area. There are isolated records in riparian woodlands in the southern third (Díaz et al., 1994).
In the national park, it is present throughout all forested areas and is only absent in the highest zones lacking tree cover.
This species is strictly forest-dwelling and can adapt to all types of woodland, including pine forests, fir forests, oak woods, chestnut groves, beech forests, cork oak woods, gall oak forests, holm oak forests, riparian woodlands, and mixed formations of all kinds (Pérez-Granados and Serrano-Davies in SEO/BirdLife, 2022).
Given its forest-dependent nature and broad ecological tolerance, it occurs in all well-developed forest stands within the national park, including the most mature Scots pine forests, mixed woodlands, and Pyrenean oak stands along the mountain slopes.
Globally, the species is considered of Least Concern (LC; 2016). In Europe it would also be classified in the same category (LC; 2020). In Spain it is listed as Least Concern in the 2021 Red List.
The Catalogue of Endangered Species of the Community of Madrid (1992) does not assign the species to any threat category.
BirdLife International 2024. IUCN Red List for birds. https://datazone.birdlife.org.
Díaz, M., Martí, R., Gómez-Manzaneque, Á. y Sánchez, A. 1994. Atlas de las aves nidificantes en Madrid. Agencia de Medio Ambiente y SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.
Keller, V., Herrando, S., Voříšek, P., Franch, M., Kipson, M., Milanesi, P., Martí, D., Antón, M., Klvaňová, A., Kalyakin, M. V. Bauer, H. Gr y Foppen, R. P. B. 2020. European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Birds Census Council y Lynx Edicions. Barcelona.
SEO/BirdLife (Molina, B., Nebreda, A., Muñoz, A. R., Seoane, J., Real, R., Bustamante, J. y Del Moral, J. C., eds.). 2022. III Atlas de las aves en época de reproducción en España. SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.